Capital Crimes in Brevoy
Capital crimes are major offenses against the gods, lords, and people of Brevoy. Anyone caught committing these acts can expect a quick and brutal end - often public - at the point of a sword or swinging from a gibbet. Often times, if the victim or a surviving family member is present, they are, as a courtesy, given a chance to carry out the sentence by their own hand. Also, the property of the guilty party is often seized and given to the victim(s) as compensation. The display of a condemned criminal's body (or head) as a deterrent to other lawbreakers, whether by an official or by a private citizen that exacted justice, is a common exception to Pharasma's law against desecration of bodies (provided they are taken down before they start to stink too badly), and is, in fact, an expected part of capital punishment. Banditry Beyond mere petty theft, the theft of livelihood (grand theft) is equated with the theft of life. If you rob someone of the means to support themselves (stealing an artisan's tools, rustling the cattle of a farmer, taking a traveler's food and clothes and leaving them to starve naked in the wilderness), then you are considered to have acted with intent to kill them, and your life and property are forfeit. The same item might count as grand theft if it is crucial to the victim's livelihood (so stealing one horse from a rancher who has many is just regular theft and will get you flogged and fined, stealing a horse from a courier who only has the one horse is banditry and will get you hanged). If you bring down a bandit, it is considered common courtesy to compensate those they have robbed (if you can track down the original owners of the stolen goods) before taking your cut of the rest of the bandit's property. The typical punishment for unrepentant banditry is execution by sword or rope. Murder the people of Brevoy are fond of poetic justice, so if applicable, the murderer is often killed in the same, or similar manner as the victim.'' Self-defense'' from such aggression (wounding or killing someone who is attempting to murder you) is perfectly legal, and is, in fact, the expected response. There are two cases where murder is almost always considered to be a crime — and a serious one at that. The first is when a person is slain without a valid reason, or solely in the interests of personal gain, as when the cutthroat kills a noblewoman for her jewels. The second is when the victim is killed without being given any sort of opportunity to defend herself, which is traditionally what assassination and murder are all about. Arson Purposefully setting fire to a building with people inside - a particularly heinous form of murder punishable by the perpetrator being burned alive. Infanticide Brevans value sentient life, and Pharasma, the goddess of birth, death, and fate, teaches that murder of infants and the unborn is an abomination, for to do so is to cut short the destiny of a child before it has had a chance to make its own (her church instead distributes alchemical contraceptives and educates the people in their use). As such, the church dispatches its own relentless Inquisitors to hunt down and punish any cowards involved in the slaughter of the most innocent and defenseless among the people. Rape/sexual assault Since casual, recreational sex is somewhat of a national pastime in Brevoy, they take the issue of consent very seriously. Not only does rape/sexual assault violate the dignity of the victim, but it also is a perversion of something Brevic culture hold very dear. No mercy is given to the perpetrator of such an abhorrent crime, and the death sentence is typically preceded by genital mutilation. For cases where the crime is not witnessed, a cleric is brought in to ascertain the truth via divination. As you can imagine, the rates of such crimes tend to be quite low in Brevoy. Other than this, Brevoy tends not to have much in the ways of laws regarding sex. As long as it's consensual, most Brevans really don't give a fuck who you fuck (except when it comes to keeping score of how often you score). Slavery, kidnapping, abduction, and other theft of person Being neighbors to the River Kingdoms has influenced Brevoy's policies over the centuries, and they have absorbed and adapted some of the River Freedoms into their own common law. As such, Brevans view innocent beings pressed into slavery as an abomination, but have no problem with indentured servitude when it's to pay off a lawful debt or making prisoners of war rebuild what they have destroyed. Slavers are typically flogged to death with lengths of chains. Treason Selling out the realm to the enemy, aiding/abetting foes, murder of an official (from a soldier to a noble), desertion, taking up arms against a lawful authority, etc. During wartime, leaders have to be careful to make all parlays very public, lest any suspicions of "consorting with the enemy" be brought against them. As per tradition, traitors are hung, drawn, and quartered, at which point the executioner will hold up the heart of the condemned for the crowd to see and proclaim "Behold! The heart of a traitor!" Trespassing You likely won't get killed for accidentally wandering into a farmer's field, but breaking and entering into someone's home or business is seen as intent to harm them and steal their belongings, and your life is forfeit if caught.